A strong hold on the foreign currency and fixed income markets in countries such as Nigeria and Kenya proved a vital asset for Standard Bank over the last 12 months, as South Africa suffered particularly damaging Covid-19 lockdowns. Largely because of this regional investment banking structure, coupled with provisioning for credit losses in South Africa, the group made almost twice as much money in the rest of Africa as it did in South Africa in 2020 – highlighting how much Standard Bank is now a pan-African play for investors.
Global banks remain strong competitors to local and regional firms like Standard Bank in the international debt capital markets and in big M&A deals. But in a year more dominated by bond than equity issuance, and when local currencies have been under pressure, hard currency funding has appeared less attractive to corporate treasurers, including some of those at multinationals seeking to fund African operations.